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Ukrainian Bulava Drone Upgraded to 5-Hour Endurance and Can Strike Beyond 100 km
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![Photo of Roman Kohanets]( "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
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Ukraine’s Bulava unmanned aerial system has been upgraded with extended flight endurance, modular warheads, advanced imaging, and a greater share of locally produced components, developers confirmed this week, and the system was presented at Defense Tech Valley 2025 by Ukrainian company DeViro on September 23.
The drone’s endurance has increased from three to five hours, with an operational range of more than 100 kilometers. Combat missions typically sustain about 75 minutes of airtime, a marked improvement on earlier versions.
Engineers replaced single-lens optics with a multisensor platform and digital stabilization to improve target recognition. “Persistent focus issues are gone, and operators now receive a much clearer image,” a developer told Ukrainian media outlet Militarnyi.
The Bulava now supports modular warheads weighing 3.6 and 5.0 kilograms. Thermobaric payloads are used against fortified positions, while fragmentation-penetration variants are intended for lighter armored targets. Developers said this flexibility enables tailoring each mission to battlefield needs.
To withstand Russian electronic warfare, the drone employs redundant control and telemetry links across low and high frequencies, allowing operators to maintain control under jamming pressure. Nearly all components, including printed circuit boards and controllers, are now manufactured in Ukraine, with only base materials sourced from abroad.
More than 30 software updates have been introduced based on frontline feedback, including operator-configurable workflows and selectable attack angles. Field trials of the heavier 5 kg warhead family are planned for November, according to the developers.
Earlier, it was reported that the Bulava is a reconnaissance and strike drone introduced by DeViRo at a defense-technology forum and designed to carry out high-precision strikes on armored vehicles, air-defense systems and electronic-warfare units.
